As businesses, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to reach our target market.

Throwing a big gathering for your company’s employees and clients may be the most inclusive way to bring them together, but if you're looking for an even easier option than this one then consider hosting some virtual events or through online communities.

Community platforms provide a way for businesses to connect with their customers and create a sense of community around their brand. They can also be used as a marketing tool to build loyalty among customers and encourage them to return to the site or store again and again.

In addition, community platforms can help businesses gather feedback from customers and get ideas for new products or services.

But with so many community platforms available, it can be difficult to decide which ones are right for you. That's why we've compiled a list of the top 7 best online community platforms of 2022. Keep reading to find out more!

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Thinkific

Thinkific is a leading online course platform that helps entrepreneurs and businesses create, market, sell, and deliver their courses. With Thinkific, anyone can create and teach an online course, with no prior experience or technical expertise required.

Thinkific offers a wide range of features to help businesses and entrepreneurs succeed with online courses, including powerful course creation tools, customizable branding and marketing options, flexible pricing and licensing options, and comprehensive course delivery options.

In addition, Thinkific provides a wealth of resources to help users get the most out of their courses, including extensive documentation and guides, an active support community, and regular webinars and events.

Features:

Thinkific is one of the most popular online community platforms in use today. It offers a wide variety of features, making it an ideal platform for all sorts of communities. From online courses to discussion forums, Thinkific has something to offer everyone.

Here is the list of features provided by Thinkific that you should know about:

  • Create online courses on online learning communities to make a connection with your audiences
  • Make an interactive connection by allowing your audience to react and comments on your threads
  • Allows you to conduct live events such as workshops, Q and A, coaching, online training, and more
  • Web Notifications to make your audience updated and see the activity performance of their posts
  • Flexible virtual spaces for hosting discussions on different topics and for posting significant updates on your content

Pricing:

Thinkific offers a wide variety of pricing plans that are designed for any business size. You can start for free by subscribing to their free plan which has features good enough to make online courses. Try it out to see if it fits your liking and business needs.

Free – $0.00

  • Create 1 course in 1 online community
  • Online courses are accessed by unlimited students
  • Access to drag-and-drop course builder
  • Access to Thinkific Academy Foundation and app store
  • Use website themes with courses quizzes and survey making
  • Operate by only 1 administrator plus with full integrated e-commerce

Start – $74.00 per month

  • Access all features from the free plan
  • Create unlimited courses in 1 online community
  • Access to editing tools with advanced website code editing
  • Allows you to custom domains and make coupons and discounts
  • Conduct live lessons and affiliate selling with advanced course-building options
  • Access to Thinkific academy advanced courses to make engaging and interactive courses

Grow – $149.00 per month

  • Access all features from the start plan
  • Create unlimited courses in 3 online communities
  • Operate by 2 administrators with phone and priority email support
  • Allows you to remove the brand name of Thinkific from your online courses
  • Allows you to bulk email and enrollments on students with API access

Expand – $374.00 per month

  • Access all features from the grow plan
  • Create unlimited courses in 10 online communities
  • Operate by 2 administrators with priority phone support
  • Allows you to have custom SSL certificates

Tribe

Tribe is an online community platform that helps people connect with others who share their interests. The platform provides a safe and easy way for people to meet new friends, find events and activities, and get involved in local causes. Tribe also allows users to create and join groups, so they can connect with like-minded people from all over the world.

In addition, the platform helps businesses and organizations to promote their products and services to a wider audience. By providing a space for people to connect and interact, Tribe is making the world a more connected and friendly place.

Features:

Tribe is the best online community platform because it offers features that are not found on any other site. It has a very user-friendly interface that makes it easy for even first-time users to find their way around. There is also a search function that allows you to find specific topics or keywords.

Here is the list of features provided by Tribe that you should know about:

  • Help your customer be informed about your brand through onboarding, conducting events, and content resources
  • Build customer relationships by making a connection through discussions about your brand to get to know what your customer wants
  • Collect authentic customer feedback with validated concepts and drive innovation to make informed decisions
  • Create a community with colorful palette themes, style, and typography that related to your brand
  • It allows integration from other business industry-leading software to still connect your business workflows to your community

Pricing:

Tribe is a social media platform that allows users to connect with others based on their interests. It has flexible pricing plans and a free plan that you can try and explore its features before committing to a paid plan.

Free – $0.00

  • It is free for up to 100 members
  • Access account to 3 staff seats
  • Allows you to customize your domain
  • Get analytics to see content performance
  • Zapier integration and get access to moderation tools

Advanced – $599.00 per month

  • Access all features from the free plan
  • Access to advanced apps with SSO
  • Allows fully white label plus API and Webhooks
  • Get a customer success manager with a staging environment

Enterprise – contact sales

  • Access all features from the advanced plan
  • Record activities with audit and activity logs
  • Uptime SLA plus enterprise-grade security
  • It has a master service agreement and customizable billing

Discord

Discord is an online community platform that enables users to connect with each other in real time. It offers a text chat service as well as voice and video calling capabilities, making it a versatile tool for online communication. Discord also has a rich user interface that allows users to customize their experience with a variety of plugins and integrations.

This makes it an ideal platform for online gaming communities, as well as other groups that need to stay in touch online. In addition, Discord is free to use, making it a great choice for budget-minded users.

With Discord, you can create multiple online communities for your target audience. The same user profile belongs to different servers (communities) which makes it easy when starting out in finding people who share similar interests with yours!

Features:

Discord is a communication platform for gamers that offers voice and text chat for gamers of all levels of experience. It also offers a host of features that make it the best online community platform for gamers.

Here is the list of features provided by Discord that you should know about:

  • Organize your community with based-channels into different topics where you can communicate and collaborate with your people
  • Conduct meetings, live events, streams, and hosting on their voice channels where your people can easily hop-in
  • Create an organized community through access to moderation tools with custom member access that can put roles on your people
  • Allows you to share your screen during video calls to show your messages with attractive presentations
  • Create your own server for your brand, organization, or groups, and invite people to join by just sending a link

Pricing:

Discord is a free online community platform that offers a variety of features to its users. These features include voice and video calling, chat rooms, and file sharing. You can simply download the application on windows or you can just open your account on your browser.

Discourse

Discourse is an online community platform that allows users to post, comment, and upvote content. The platform is designed to promote healthy discussion and reduce the chances of flaming or trolling. Discourse also allows users to create custom avatars and signatures, and to track their reading progress through a “read receipt” feature.

Discourse is equipped with tools that allow users to moderate discussions, track discussions, and search for specific topics. It also allows users to tag other users, which makes it easy to keep track of the conversation. In addition, Discourse provides a rich user interface that makes it easy to navigate and participate in discussions.

Features:

Discourse is a platform that offers features such as forums, topics, and messages. It also has a search engine that allows users to search for content quickly and easily. Additionally, Discourse offers user profiles, which allow users to showcase their work and contributions to the community.

Here is the list of features provided by Discourse that you should know about:

  • It is simple and easy to navigate with their flat forum that allows you to view comments and replies on the same page you are in from bottom to top which to avoid time loading
  • Get notified when someone shares your posts, makes a comment and replies, and mentions you on your content or on related posts
  • Easily browse your app through mobile devices, tablets, or on laptops because of its high-resolution touch and built-in mobile layout
  • Share your thoughts or promote your brand in your community with links to provide your viewers with additional information
  • Allows you to integrate discourse with your trusted and existing other applications through their robust single sign-on

Pricing:

Discourse is a great platform for online communities and is known for its clean and user-friendly interface. It is a great option for those who are looking for an online community platform that is easy to use and navigate. You can use discourse by trying their free trial or subscribing to their paid plans that can help you build your community.

Standard – $100.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Access to unlimited members in your community
  • Facilitate by 5 admins and moderators
  • Allows you to view 100k pages monthly
  • Get 20GB storage space plus SSO
  • Access to complete feature set with standard plugins

Business – $300.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Access all features from the standard plan
  • Facilitate by 15 admins and moderators
  • Allows you to view 500k pages monthly
  • Get 100GB of storage with 300k monthly emails
  • Receive priority support via email
  • Authentication from Amazon, LinkedIn, and Microsoft
  • Integrate with learning management systems with migration and business plugins

Enterprise – contact sales

  • Access all features from the business plan
  • Facilitate by unlimited admins and moderators
  • Allows you to view 3M pages monthly with 1.5M monthly emails
  • Get 200GB of storage plus enterprise plugins and custom migration

Try a 14-day free trial offered by Discourse by clicking the link below —

Mighty Networks

Mighty Networks is an online community platform that helps you build your own branded network. It provides everything you need to create a thriving online community, including the ability to create custom content, send newsletters, and run ads. Mighty Networks makes it easy to bring people together around your passion or cause.

It is the perfect place for you to open up your network and engage with others on topics that matter most. You can let users post too, chat about what they're interested in, or offer some feedback.

Features:

Mighty Networks offers features that are designed to make it the best online community platform for businesses and organizations. It offers a central location for members to access all of the resources that they need, including a directory, forums, events, and more. In addition, Mighty Networks also provides tools to help members connect with each other and build relationships.

Here is the list of features provided by Mighty Networks that you should know about:

  • Create your own community and design it with online courses, events, live streaming, and more
  • Allows you to create your own online learning courses and sell them to your members and see your content performance with their analytic dashboard
  • Design and customize your community site with your branding and build a directory of experts, businesses, and services within your community
  • Integrate Mighty Networks with your existing website or blog to bring your community with you
  • Allows you to create custom forms, surveys, and quizzes for your members and also provides a mobile app for both iOS and Android devices

Pricing:

Mighty Network is a great platform for creating online communities, and it offers different pricing plans to fit the needs of different businesses and organizations. The Community plan is perfect for small groups or businesses that are just starting out, while the Business plan and Mighty Pro plans offer more features and capabilities for larger groups or businesses.

Community Plan – $33.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Chat and messaging feature for interaction
  • Integrate with Event and Zoom application
  • You can pay for memberships

Business Plan – $99.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Access all features from the community plan
  • Create your own online courses
  • Conduct live cohort course creation
  • Manage community and member data with analytics
  • Has Zapier API and allows you to automate your workflows

Mighty Pro – contact sales

  • Access all features from the business plan
  • Access to branded app notifications
  • Allows you to have white-labeled web and app experience
  • Offers strategy and migration services and supports
  • You can access the Apple app store and Google Play store with your own app

Try a 14-day free trial offered by Mighty Networks by clicking the link below —

Circle

Circle is a social media platform that allows users to connect with friends and family members online. The platform provides a variety of features that allow users to stay connected with loved ones, including a news feed, messaging, and video call capabilities.

In addition, the platform also provides users with access to a variety of content, including articles, images, and videos. Circle is a free service that is available to anyone with an internet connection.

Features:

Circle is a social media platform that allows users to connect with friends and family, as well as other people in their local community.

Here is the list of features provided by Circle that you should know about:

  • Manage and create your own online learning courses on a single platform to have an interactive and exciting community
  • Engage with your members by conducting hosting, events, making courses, quizzes, live streams, and group chats
  • Allows you to accept payments for selling your works, content access, and offer membership in your community
  • Manage your community with integrations, SSO, advanced analytics, custom roles, and inviting teammates
  • Allows you to create private spaces for different groups which are suitable for memberships, coaching, course creation, and more

Pricing:

Circle offers a variety of pricing options to its users. It has a free trial which allows users to explore their features before purchasing a paid plan. It also offers custom pricing for businesses and organizations.

Basic – $39.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Create engaging discussions and unlimited events
  • Create private messages and group chats
  • Allows you to accept payment easily and quickly
  • Allows you to a custom domain with Zapier integration

Professional – $99.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Access all features from the basic plan
  • Create your own courses and live streaming
  • Has advanced analytics and white labeling
  • Allows you to custom SSO and custom CSS

Enterprise – $399.00 per month (Try a 14-day free trial)

  • Access all features from the professional plan
  • Receive support via email
  • It has a dedicated customer success manager plus API access

Try a 14-day free trial offered by Circle by clicking below —

Hivebrite

Hivebrite is an Online Community Platform that helps organizations build and manage online communities. It provides a suite of tools to help organizations engage their members, including a social media platform, a forum, and a calendar.

Hivebrite also offers a variety of customization options to help organizations create a community that fits their brand. In addition, Hivebrite provides support and training to help organizations get the most out of their community.

In addition, Hivebrite integrates with a variety of third-party applications, making it easy to add features and functionality to the community. Through its Online Community Platform, Hivebrite is helping organizations build strong, engaged communities.

Features:

Hivebrite is one of the most popular online community platforms in use today. It offers a wide range of features that are designed to make online communities more engaging and productive.

Here is the list of features provided by Hivebrite that you should know about:

  • Manage your community by importing and exporting member's data plus with its powerful search and targeting filters, you can promote your brand to your target audience
  • Collect and track your member's profile information to keep them updated on your campaigns and the content of your brand
  • Update and moderate your content easily with integrated CMS and add RSS feeds to automate your content creation
  • Manage all your events with calendars, invitation emails, ticketing, online payments, and social network integration to organize all in your community
  • Communicate and engage with your members through automation to easily send email campaigns, newsletters, and notifications

Pricing:

Hivebrite offers a pricing plan that is affordable for all businesses and organizations. You can request a demo to learn more about Hivebrite.

Bottom-line

Online community platforms are great for building relationships with customers and other businesses. They can help you share your message and grow your brand. If you’re looking for a new online community platform for your business or organization, one of these seven is sure to fit your needs. Each of these platforms has its own unique features and benefits, so it’s important to do your research before deciding which one is right for you.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Question 1: Why is Online Community Platform important in business? Online community platforms are important in business because they provide a space for customers and businesses to interact with each other. This interaction can help build customer loyalty and create a better understanding of what customers want from businesses. Additionally, online community platforms can help businesses gather feedback and ideas from customers.

Question 2: What are the benefits of using an Online Community Platform? An online community platform can be an incredibly valuable tool for businesses and individuals alike. They provide a space for people to come together and share ideas, collaborate on projects, and build relationships with others who share similar interests. This can be an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs who are looking to create or expand their businesses, as well as for individuals who are looking to connect with others and build a support network. It can also be a great way to find new opportunities. By participating in discussions and sharing your ideas and expertise, you may come across new opportunities that you would not have otherwise discovered. Additionally, online communities can be great places to find collaborators, employees, or even customers.

Question 3: What are the different types of Online Community Platforms? The three most popular types of online community platforms are social networking sites, forums, and blogs. Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, allow users to connect with each other and share information. Forums provide a space for people to discuss specific topics or interests and usually allow users to post messages and reply to other users’ posts. Blogs are online journals or diaries where users can share their thoughts and ideas on a variety of topics. While each type of platform has its own unique features, all three provide users with a way to connect with others and share information.